If Obama Is Serious

here's a much too little advertised factoid; Israel is responsible for violating the truce in Hamas when it's "targeted killings" ended up killing Palestinians early in November. similarly, the blockade of Gaza, leaving it a cesspool of inhumanity. it is Ironic enough that Hamas is shelling Palestinian property, much to the dismay of the entire world. let's all steal our neighbor's house, surround him, boycott him, let him live on grass and tied to a leash, and then we can all see how he reacts. it is so ironic how they entire world's ignores Israel's culpability in this matter. yes. let us gang up on those Palestinians whose lands were stolen and get rid of the remaining 1.5 million who we didn't kill/exile the first time around.

Can someone answer me one question? Why does the world allow Isreal to be attacked again,again and agian and then expect Isreal to back away? We all should be right behind her and tell the world there is no quarter and no mercy for a country that will harbor or support terrorism. Man up people get them out of your country you are not innocent when you allow evil to exsist among you.

I have two main issues with the article,
1. the writer concludes that Israel has some special responsibility to the 1.5 million Gazans while Hamas, THEIR popular leaders, are firing ordnance into civilian territories, steadily building their military capabilities while inculcating hatred and the seeds of violence throughout their populace.
2 The issue (problem) of settlements will melt away like Spring snow as soon as a viable (no right of return to greater Israel) peace plan is put on the table.
I disagree with all of the Arab commentators seen on TV recently who suggest that Israels actions only radicalize Islam. This is nothing more than than a call for appeasement.
It is time to put all the cards on the 'mideast table' and see how they play out.
Israel is looking for the end game NOW. No more foot dragging, let the real players step to the fore and make the decision, peace or war. This decision has always been the muslims to make, they have always chosen war..
Maybe peace through strength will end the tail chasing once and for all.

I can only put this one way. Let's say my neighbor, for some reason, fires a shot at me. I call the police, call them the do nothing U.N. They tell them that it's not nice to do that and they should stop. The next day my neighbor fires another shot at me. That's far from the 9000 shots fired by Hamas. I'm going to load up my guns and kill everything I see moving on his property. Israel is well within her rights to declare scorched earth againt Hamas.

Wow, excellent article. Really, really excellent. Those pesky Jews really need to be put in their place! We like them so much better when they lay down and take it. I would say, "The only good Jew is a dead Jew," but I would perhaps append that to say, "Except for sophisticated, latte-sipping, self-hating Jews who would burn their yarmulkes in shame before appearing to be one of the wrong kind of Jews."

And it's such a relief to read a Westerner writing such a thoughtful apologia for those poor, poor Palestinians, who can't even afford (through absolutely no fault of their own, naturally) the nice, high-quality bombs they would need to finally give those Israelis what they deserve. I only hope President-Elect Obama is reading this article, so that he'll know just what he should do: force the Jews in Israel to make endless concessions to their genocidal neighbors, just so that Westernized Jews will feel better about themselves at dinner parties, when they can mention their opposition to Israel.

Thank you for an Article which is long overdue. I believe that given the comments we've seen articulated below by some very ignorant pundits on the state of affairs in the middle East, it's thoroughly acceptable to murder children since Hamas' covenant calls for the liberation of stolen palestinian territory. a few thousand rockets on Israeli settlers are unacceptable, but 60 years of murder, rape and dissspossession are acceptable by some standards. to say that Israel, the world's third strongest army, which spends more on it's military than all muslim nations on the planet combined, is in threat of a second holocaust is probably the most retarded statement repeated by what I hope are not avid readers of this fine publication. it cannot be stated enough that this "war" is a breeding nest for terrorism and will ONLY complicate matters for American troops around the world. it is tantamount to treason to admit otherwise. let's keep electing presidents who swear allegiance to a foriegn entity!!!!!!

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/fire-keith-olbermann

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http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/fire-keith-olbermann

Read and leave comments!

So, about this "special relationship" we have with Israel...

I have some idea of what Israel gets from us -- aid, weapons, political cover with the UN Security Council, and mediation with Israel's neighbors, if necessary.

What exactly do we get from them? Intelligence? Counter-terrorism help? Al Qaeda still exists. They sure don't do anything to keep the price of oil cheap.

As far as I can tell, we are funding both sides of the conflict in the Middle East. We fund the Israelis. We also fund their oil-producing neighbors, who then use the money to prop up their autocracies and fund Islamic "charities" to stave off political reform. The full structure of the conflict in the region is our fault.

I'm not Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. None of my relatives are, either. I don't understand why my tax dollars and my country's foreign policy are held hostage to an artificial conflict with no end in sight. The answer is easy: Pull the plug. Let it all come down, and let the regional actors learn to live with each other -- or not.

Palestinians send their children into Israeli schools, busses, restaurants, and supermarkets with bombs strapped to their bodies to kill as many innocent men, women, and children as they possibly can. After the suicide bomber completes their mission of wanton murder of dozens of people the Palestinians dance in the streets and pass out candy celebrating.

Palestinians fire hundreds of rockets into Israeli villages and towns trying to murder as many innocent people as possible and when Israel responds Israel is called the aggressor. The aggressors are the people who have murdered thousands of innocents here on 911, in India, Iraq, Israel, England, Spain, Fiji, The Philippines and six different Moslem countries all in the name of Islam against Jews and Christians. The aggressor is not the nation of Israel, a country the size of New Jersey. It is the Palestinians and Moslems who teach their children, from the time they are born, to hate Jews and Christians.

Have people forgotten that Israel withdrew every settler and every soldier from Gaza three years ago? What did they get in return? Six thousand rockets fired at their civilians the past three years. Let a terrorist group take over Canada or Mexico and begin firing rockets at American cities and let's see how our government responds. People speak about proportionality as though a country has no right to do whatever it can to stop attacks against its own people. Hamas is sworn to the destruction against the State of Israel and Israel has the right to protect its people by any means possible. Period.

Vvurdsmyth, I apologise, but it is naive to assume that the Gaza population has a say on the matter of rockets being launched from their buildings by gun-wielding youths- this is a democratically elected government whose incredulous callowness has been revealed in light of excellent strategic positions Israel has adopted since Hamas's rise to power, with the not so subtle approval from the United States. With Gaza residents dining on grass, one could hardly care about activities on their rooftops. Mother or father, the objective for the past two years has been to earn money to feed daughters and sons. With Israel blocking off all aid, as a matter of fact, blocking all orderly human operations in and out of Gaza, it would take even a fool to understand that Hamas would not show some sort of retaliation with the only resource they have or have ever employed- violence. This has been very much the anticipated reaction and it was only a matter of time before Hamas played right into the hands of their neighbours. You mention a 'couple of hundred civilians' being killed- how far removed from reality do you have to be to recognize that no cause is worth a child's finger. We are mightily desensitized to death- it is quite frightening. To the 1.5 million Gaza residents, their aim is day-to-day survival- anyone in their common sense would not wish this on themselves. This article is a relief- this 'exclusive' relationship is not in the best interest of humanity. Israel is unleashing its wrath on a people they've uprooted, not on the nations that have driven them to despair and madness for centuries- it's a basic argument. So what will it take for the world to get tough with Israel?

This hogbreath of an author should feel the love of the palestinian vermin in a rocket attack.

An excellent article. Finally, someone recognized the current Middle East situation for what it is.

President-elect's foreign policy choice and his very meaningful silence amid the current violence in Gaza, only makes me believe that he has recieved quite a convincing dose of reality of who calls the shots in America.

skeetchamp, interesting post, but you have to understand, Hamas and the population are so commingled with the roofs of buildings used to launch upwards of a dozen or more rockets a day into Israel -specifically targeting civilians. And Hamas, like Hitler was voted into power; Hitler used V1's, and what happened? Did the Brits hold back it's invasion? Hell no! And the Allies leveled much of Hitler's Germany- I don't recall any objection to collateral damage. If after Hitler's V1's England had the right to invade Hitler's Germany and level it - I think Israel's restraint is admirable. Yah, Israel has nukes, but that is not why they are trying to get at the root of the constant rocket fire, targeting civilians, A defense against such a commingled enemy is bound to get messy, but Hamas was targeting civilians; Israel has warned civilians to stay clear of military targets. Look at it another way, they voted in, supported and commingle with Hamas; It isn't Israel's fault if they have a martyr's death wish - they are doing it on purpose to make it look like Israel is targeting civilians - for propaganda purposes. What's a few hundred civilians if it might sucker world media and governments into pressuring Israel into halting a defensive operation....

Thank you Mr. Miller to voicing the word "Fairness", as the policies so far have been anything but fair, thanks to the pressure of the hawkish Jewish group lobbyists who'll go to any length to make sure that the president plays ball with their policies. My Israeli friends are all unhappy about the prospect of living in the horrors of war and instability, as do the Palestinians. And they resent the support that the Israel hawks receive in the US. Their real heroes are the leaders who have pushed through peace with Egypt and Syria. Perhaps it is time for the American Jews to focus on what they are foremost, and that is being American and stop interfering in Israel's affairs and let them be. If they do, then the prospects of peace is a reality. But thousand of miles away sitting in their safe homes, they want to run Israel with a remote control. This is going too far, too dangerous, too volatile, and too unstable for every one concerned. and the results are obvious.

I have a better idea to periodic retaliation against Gaza by Israel: an automated defense system that detects a rocket fired from Gaza and automatically fires 10 rockets randomly back at Gaza with no human intervention. That way, every time Hamas fires on Israel they are just activitng a reflex system... basically Hamas would be firing on their own people.

Mr. Miller writes, Israel has every right to defend itself. But, does it make sense for America to support its policy of punishing Hammas by making life unbearable for 1.5 million Gazans by denying aid and economic devlopment? The answer is no. Mr. Miller the answer is yes. I'm sure you remember that Hammas was elected overwhelmingly by the Palestinians as their governing authority. When the Israelis left Gaza, they left with a sound economic policy in place. all the Palestinians had to do was continue to run their government with an eye toward statehood by using the economic plan left in place by the Israelis. They did not. Instead they let their hatred of the Jews and the vitriol spewed by Hammas cloud their thinking. They portrayed themselves as the victims, while turning a blind eye to the rocket attacks launched from their very backyards; decrying the Israeli response as disportionate, while they chanted in the streets death to the Jews. Yet you and others continue to say that Israel muse exercise restraint, even as their children, mothers, and fathers are slaughtered by the hatred that comes from a people wedded to an ancient religious ideology. You, sir, are a hypocrite. Should Obama get tough with Israel? The question should be rephrased to ask, should the world get tough with the Palestinians. Should the world and the governing body of quislings that make up the UN hold Hammas and the Palestinians accountable for their actions that have kept the region inflamed, consumed, as it were, by the fires of their own hatred. We should renounce the Palestinian victimhood mentality that promotes dialogue on the one hand, while holding the detonator to a suicide vest in the other.

The Palestinians are their own worst enemy. Until they renounce the religious ideology that spawns their hatred, there can never be peace in the Middle East. And those who aid and abet that hatred by underwriting their cause are nothing more than modern day emperors who dance naked before America and the world, covered in nothing but htheir hypocrisy.